Ten-Year Review: State Party Albania was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010. It regards existing law as sufficient to ensure its implementation of the convention. Albania has participated in all of the convention’s meetings and has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria and elsewhere. It has voted in favor of an annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting implementation of the convention since 2015.

In its initial transparency report for the convention provided in 2011, Albania confirmed that it has never used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Policy

The Republic of Albania signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 16 June 2009. It was among the first 30 ratifications that triggered entry into force of the convention on 1 August 2010.

After conducting a legislative review, Albania reported in 2013 that it considered existing legislation sufficient to implement the convention’s provisions.[1]

Albania submitted its initial Article 7 report for the convention in January 2011 and has provided annual updated reports ever since, most recently in May 2020.[2]

Albania participated throughout the Oslo Process that led to the creation of the convention and made many strong contributions from the perspective of a state affected by past use of cluster munitions.[3]

Albania has participated in every meeting of the convention, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in September 2016 in Geneva. It attended the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015, the convention’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in 2011-2015, and in regional workshops on the convention.

In December 2019, Albania voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] It has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Albania has served as the convention’s co-coordinator on stockpile destruction and retention in 2013-2015.

Albania has condemned the use of cluster munitions “in any conflicts.”[5] It has condemned the use of cluster munitions in Syria several times since 2013.[6] Albania voted in favor of Human Rights Council resolution condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[7] It has also voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently Resolution 74/169 in December 2019, which expressed “outrage” at the continued use.[8]

Albania has yet to elaborate its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Albania is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, use, and stockpiling

Albania has reported that it has not produced or stockpiled cluster munitions.[9] In December 2008, Albania stated that it has never used or transferred cluster munitions.[10]

Forces of the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia and states participating in the NATO operation used cluster munitions in Albania in 1999.[11] A decade later, in December 2009, Albania announced the completion of clearance of all known cluster munition remnants on its territory.[12]